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Curtailing Avian Impacts with Wind Turbines using GSM/GPS Tracking Telemetry that
Incorporates Autonomous Geofence Alerts
• James K. Sheppard PhD: San Diego Zoo Global
• Andrew McGann: Cellular Tracking Technologies
• Michael Lanzone: Cellular Tracking Technologies
• Allyson Walsh PhD: San Diego Zoo Global
• Michael Wallace PhD: San Diego Zoo Global
• Ronald Swaisgood PhD: San Diego Zoo Global
Conservation challenge – what we know
Wind energy continues to proliferate globally.
Wind farms have environmental costs.
Growing literature documenting impacts on resident and
migratory avifauna populations.
Hard data on raptor impacts scarce - but impacts do occur
e.g., Pagel et al. (J. Raptor Res. 2013) found a minimum of 85 eagle
mortalities at 32 wind farms in 10 states, 1997 – 2012.
Develop and implement effective measures to reduce wind energy impacts on avifauna.
Conservation challenge:
CONSERVATION CHALLENGE: CONDORS & WIND ENERGY
CONDORS & WIND ENERGY
No definitive record of wind turbine impact injury
to date… However…
Condors are expanding their ranges, including areas of existing & proposed wind energy development.
Wind energy has potential to conflict with condor recovery unless collision risks are minimized.
CONDORS & WIND ENERGY
Largest land bird in North America.
Important ecologically and culturally.
Ranged from Canada to Mexico.
Historical range CURRENT RANGE
CONDORS & WIND ENERGY
Largest land bird in North America.
Important ecologically and culturally.
Ranged from Canada to Mexico.
As Europeans settled within its range condor populations
declined to near extinction.
Major conservation success story.
37 free-ranging condors in Baja CA, Mexico
30 free-ranging condors currently in Baja CA, Mexico
Condor reintroduction site, Baja California, Mexico
Condors select habitats with strong and consistent winds to help them soar long distances while minimizing energy.
Condors fly slowly and tend to watch the ground for activity while soaring.
Condor reintroduction site
Condor return flight north across USA/Mexico border
Interpolated condor flight path using GPS-telemetry location data
155 MW Energia Sierra Juarez (ESJ) project includes 47 units of 3.3-MW Vestas turbines operational in 2015.
“Let them bring hundreds, thousands of turbines…”
Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán - San Diego Union-Tribune
CONDORS & WIND ENERGY
Controversial incidental condor take permits considered for USA wind farms…
Map & data: USFWS
Technological solutions
Rapid advances in the miniaturization,
accuracy and utility of biotelemetry
devices offer technological solutions to
curtail avian fatalities.
Develop a biotelemetry system to provide automated alerts if a telemetered bird flies close to a wind farm.
Provide time to implement appropriate measures to curtail collision risk.
Real-time virtual fences (geofences)
Incorporated geofence technology into avian GPS-tags to
provide early-warning capability for large bird species.
Geofence is a virtual boundary delineated around an area of
interest that triggers:
A cue to the telemetered animal
Change in the location fix rate
An alert.
Real-time virtual fences (geofences)
Geofences increasingly used as an effective platform to enhance the spatiotemporal flexibility of wildlife management.
Geofence alert technology has been too large or complex to incorporate into avian biotelemetry.
savetheelephants.org
First autonomous GPS geofence alert system specifically for avian applications to minimizing collisions risk.
SMS warning message sent to secure receiver group.
Appropriate collision avoidance response initiated.
Raptor geofence alert system
CTT-1050a-PM Series GPS-GSM (2 Gen), Advanced Bird
Telemetry System.
Weatherproof enclosure with internal antenna.
Tags weigh ~45g, 80 mm x 62 mm x 10 mm (W x L x H).
Raptor geofence alert system
Backpack mount for large birds such as eagles and herons.
Patagial wing mount for condors.
Raptor geofence alert system
Powered by a solar-recharged Lit-Ion Polymer battery.
Reprogrammable duty cycle - GPS location fix rate originally set at 15 min.
Fix rate will decrease to 30 s if the tag enters a geofence and return to 15 min when it leaves the geofence zone.
Raptor geofence alert system
GSM (cellular) network communication to transmit location data.
If coverage is unavailable > 100,000 GPS location fixes stored.
Cellular system allows tags to frequently update large batches of telemetry data at low costs.
Raptor geofence alert system
Firmware on the tags can be updated remotely while the units are deployed, e.g. new geofences.
Location data is accessed via download from a secure webpage.
Alert user list can be customized.
Raptor geofence alert system
Raptor geofence alert system
ENTER - SMS alert sent + fix rate to 30 seconds
EXIT - SMS alert sent + fix rate to 15 minutes
ENTER - SMS alert sent + fix rate to 30 seconds
EXIT - SMS alert sent + fix rate to 15 minutes
Field tests of geofence automated SMS alert message response times.
Flew by helicopter along flight path of condor that crosses the ESJ wind farm.
Performance
Location data highly accurate (<2m) tested against a sub-meter DGPS with GNSS driver.
Average SMS response times after crossing geofence boundary: ~2 minutes.
Performance
A condor cruising at 15 kmh would take 2.4 hours to reach the closest turbine after the first alert.
The condor that intersected the ESJWP would have taken 3 – 4 hours to reach the closest turbines after the first alert.
A condor flying towards the ESJWP at 100 kmh would not reach the closest wind turbine until 22 min after the first alert.
Performance
Birds must be captured and telemetered.
Too heavy for smaller birds species + bats.
Only operational during the day.
Cost – currently $4,500/unit (plus data fees).
What if tagged birds loiter..?
How long would operators be willing to keep turbines shut down until a bird departs..?
Limitations
Future directions
More field testing, multi-species deployments,
fine-tuning and adaptive management.
Integrate geofence system into automated
shutdown system.
Integrate geofence system into deterrent system.
An uncomfortable but safe ‘buzz’ generated by the transmitter if it traverses a geofence.
Future directions
Aversion system incorporating a “Buzzard Buzzer”.
Combining:
GPS level accuracy
High location fix sampling rates
Location data received in near real time
Automated SMS alerts
into an integrated and flexible geofence biotelemetry system will provide sufficient warning and time to implement appropriate mitigative actions to curtail avian wind farm collisions.
Take Home Message
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Bailey Wildlife Foundation
Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation
Marisla Foundation
Sempra Energy
United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Instituto Nacional de Ecologia (INE)
Comision Nacional Para El Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO)
Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT)
Wildcoast/Costasalvaje
http://goo.gl/LgyCNQ
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